


You Owe Me a Cappuccino

by Hoppskibjack



Category: Bandom, Blink-182, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Confident Mark, Groupies, M/M, Past Tomark, Porn With Plot, Tom is involved but not a main character, skippus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 12:54:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10831707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoppskibjack/pseuds/Hoppskibjack
Summary: Matt, manager of a fairly busy coffee shop has a good thing going, meeting band members after concerts and “showing his appreciation for their work”. No fuss, no muss and everyone leaves happy. Then Mark shows up one day for a cappuccino and suddenly he can’t stop thinking about the guy.Disclaimer: Obviously this is fictional. I don’t need to say this, but I will. Fiction.





	1. Almond Milk Cappuccino

**Author's Note:**

> This is an extra long chapter 1 or it's chapter 1 & 2 combined. Either way, lots of Skippus words. Fair warning, things get explicit very quickly.

Matt scrubbed a hand down his face, rubbing at his eyes to clear the sleep from the corners. Three hours was not enough sleep. It was a mantra now running through his head and had been since he had groggily pressed the stop alarm button on his phone at 5am. He had been out until almost 3am; talking with one of the opening bands at the concert he had attended. The guy had been nice, attractively dressed in what Matt could only describe as Victorian Steve Tyler. He introduced Matt to the less attractive but very gay lead singer of the headliner, under the guise of Matt wanting to show “what a big fan he was, and to show his appreciation.”

Matt started the pots of coffee at the still closed coffee shop, his opening shift filled with a pleasant hum all around him. The bruises on his knees occasionally brushed against the jeans he was wearing and it served to spark the memory of the encounter the night before. The alley behind the venue, damp and spotted with gravel and glass wasn’t ideal, but Matt had been on his knees in far worse places.

The coffee started to percolate, bubbling and extracting from the grounds. The skinny, tattooed employee inhaled the scent of fresh coffee, replacing the smell of sweat, stale beer and testosterone that came off the singer in front of him in his memory, leaning against the brick side of the building. In the less than great lighting spillover of the street, Matt fumbled with the opening of the man’s pants. He cursed at the fastening and the singer snorted in amusement. He said something, something condescending Matt assumed, and reached down to open the fly of his pants himself. Matt sat back on his heels, letting out a quiet breath as the singer stroked himself a few times and then slid on a condom, unrolling it onto his length while Matt swallowed the saliva pooling his mouth.

A beep brought Matt back to reality, and he swallowed with the memory. Claudia, a petite slip of a woman arrived, her red and brown hair tied back into a bun. The noise had been the backdoor announcing her arrival. She said good morning to Matt and was smiling with the energy of someone who hadn’t been sucking stranger’s cocks at 3am. She was the coffee shop’s baker, cook and assistant manager to Matt’s manager, all in one. She went out back to deal with food prep, breakfast sandwiches and hot food items, once again leaving Matthew alone with his memories.

He leaned against the counter, yawning and scratching the back of his neck. He would just close his eyes for a couple of minutes until the coffee finished and he could start the second round. He remembered fingers in his short blond hair, twisting and tugging his face towards the freed, covered erection. The smell of latex and sweat greeted his nostrils and he licked his lips.

“Always love fan interaction,” the singer growled and this time Matt chuckled. He took the length into his mouth, letting the weight of it settle on his tongue. It wasn’t big, but it was thick with a very distinctive vein running along the underside. Even with the condom on Matt could feel it on his tongue. He shifted it to trace the vein with the tip of his tongue.

The singer had been saying something, but shut up as Matt slowly traced the vein. He felt the fingers twist slightly in his hair and he alternated between suction, hollowing his cheeks and washing the condom with his tongue along the shaft and around the head. The sensitive spots that Matt found when the singer would pull and twist his hair were focused on. It didn’t take long for the singer to start using his vocal chords and Matt found the bulge in his skinny jeans responding in kind. He reached up to start jerking him off but the moans turned to words above him.

“No hands.”

Matt was about to protest but given the rock hard cock in his mouth and the sounds he was making he opted to shut up and do as he was told. Something that sounded suspiciously like ‘good boy’ was muttered above him and Matt found himself crossing his wrists behind him.

That did it. The singer moaned and tensed, warm liquid spurting into the condom. The hands released his hair and Matt sat back, wiping the drool from his mouth and chin with a sigh.

“Wish I could bring you on tour, don’t think they’d appreciate it… the band I mean.” He grinned and Matt grinned back, accepting the hand to help stand. He adjusted himself in his jeans, watching the singer tie off and throw the condom further down the alley.

Matt had the distinct feeling he would be taking care of himself when he got home (he did) and found he was OK with it if in some pain now.

“Thanks for coming to the show. Past few have been full of chicks and not one that could hold a candle to your abilities.” The singer patted him on the shoulder and Matt muttered gratitude? Between the whiskey, the late hour and the throbbing in his groin he couldn’t remember what he said.

“Large cappuccino.”

Matt blinked. Reality filtered back in and Matt found himself staring at a neaty dressed man wearing sunglasses (at 7am) and hair drawn into a mini-mohawk quiff in the front. At some point time had gone by and Claudia must have unlocked the door without waking him.

“Huh?” Between the memory of the night before and the extremely handsome man in front of him, there was no blood going to his brain.

“I’m even more attractive after I have my coffee.” The handsome man said and Matt refused to believe that was possible. His thought about the night before was abandoned and his attention was now completely focused on this stranger. What would that be like? He had long fingers; the better to twist in his hair and his voice was so much smoother. Matt was staring outright and the other man was staring back with a smirk etched into the corner of his mouth.

“Mr. Hoppus, I didn’t realize you were here! Is Karen out sick?” Claudia’s voice broke Matt out of his newly forming fantasy and shifted his gaze away from the slightly smirking Mr. Hoppus. Matt could just see the tip of the man’s eyebrow above the rim of his sunglasses but he turned his attention away from Matt to Claudia.

“Karen is getting married. I’m such a good boss I gave her the day off and came to get my own coffee. If it ever gets made.” His gaze turned back to Matt who quickly ducked his head down and punched it in. 

He took a step to the side in front of the espresso machine grateful that the counter was past waist height. He needed more sleep. Random attractive customers shouldn’t do this to him. His pants felt uncomfortably tight even though he had gotten off a few hours ago. 

“Almond milk.” The well dressed man said it casually when Matt reached for the whole milk, but Matt felt it like a caress in his ear. He nodded and immediately grabbed the almond milk carton from the small fridge beneath the coffee bar and steamed it.

Claudia giggled, actually giggled and Matt glanced up. When his gaze met hers she narrowed her eyes and gestured at the cup with her chin. He topped the espresso with scalded milk, adorning the top with a leaf pattern on the foam. After collecting the money he set the cup down in front of the handsome man who took a sip. The coffee shop was just now beginning to come alive and a line was starting to form behind him.

“Not bad,” the man commented.

Matt had to keep from grinning. “Thanks.”

“Karen won’t be in until Monday so I guess I will see you tomorrow…” he tipped down his sunglasses to read the nametag pinned on the front of Matt’s apron. “Matt.”

“Uh, thanks, Mr. Hoppus.”

The man smiled and put a lid on his coffee. “It’s Mark.” With that he was out the door and Matt released a breath in a huff.. He went on to help the next customer, and time started back up again.

It was after the line cleared that he spun towards Claudia. “Who was that? That Mark guy?” 

“He works for one of the offices down the street, advertising maybe? Marketing? Why?” 

“He’s hot Claudia.” Matt said, deadpan. “Extremely attractive even in a stuffy, expensive suit.” Matt said and pushed down the napkins in the dispenser to add more. 

The assistant manager laughed. “I know he’s super cute, I’m not blind Matthew. You should ask him out to a concert or something, he’s into music, he’s gay and doesn’t hide it. Sometimes he comes in here on weekends early in the morning wearing band t-shirts, which you would know if you ever worked a weekend. Maybe he would like to meet musicians with you.” She emphasized ‘meet’ by dropping her voice and then laughed. The grin on her face was cut off and she gave a little shriek when Matt threw a sugar packet at her head.

“Don’t call it that.” Matt said, moving onto the next item to restock. “You make it sound so…unprofessional.” 

“You’re a well-practiced groupie Matt, own it.” He threw another sugar packet, but inside he was pleased that his gaydar was operating correctly. Maybe he would make conversation the next time he was in, see if the chemistry he felt physically was there verbally.

“And I get to practice my craft tonight.” Matt stated and Claudia shook her head, thus officially ending the conversation.

\---------------

The energy in the hall was palpable. Bodies next to bodies as the music flowed, the frontman pouring out his heart and soul in the form of melodies and lyrics. The crowd was so open to the suggestions of the band on stage and it heaved and grinded as the songs progressed, jumped and threw its hands in the air like a collective body instead of six hundred. The encore ended and the guy Matt was grinding on ran a hand down his side, pressing a phone number into Matt’s pocket. Matt smiled, watching the guy walk away before reaching over and hugging his friend who was trying to get his attention.

“I’m heading out Matt, you staying to meet the band?” Heather, friend and confidante, smirked because she knew.

“Yeah, wouldn’t mind getting that bassist’s autograph from the second opener.”

“Be careful.”

“Always am.” He tapped a pocket that held four latex filled silver packets. It was a carefully worded dance his friends did at almost every concert, which for Matt had become almost every night. Going to bars to pick up guys seemed foolish and not a guaranteed thing. This way he knew exactly what he was getting and could get it done and over with quickly. They also rarely ended up back at his place. On the occasion he struck out, he still got to dance and listen to good music. He stepped out of the way of a drunk that was laughing about some secret joke and stepped around a collection of plastic cups that had gathered near the stage. He reached up with the side of his arm to wipe away the sweat from his forehead and lean against the lip of the stage, now freed from the metal barricades. The audience was thinning and he started to make his way towards the stage door which led to outside and the tour busses and vans.

He didn’t recognize him at first in a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans, a drastic departure from the neat suit he wore this morning, but when he turned Matt knew it was him. Mr. Hoppus, Mark, he reminded himself, apparently liked the same music as he did. It shouldn’t give him a little thrill to see Mark there without a protective suit and counter to separate them, but he felt it. This time he would be suave, smooth and confident, not the blithering idiot he was this morning. He had made a beeline towards the other man, forgetting about his original reason for heading that way. His confident stride carried him almost two-thirds of the way before Mark saw him and smiled.

Matt felt himself falter, and his confidence dipped slightly as he came up to the smiling man. This was a bad idea. The thought flashed in his mind and he knew he was too far to just wander away and pretend he hadn’t seen Mark.

“Hey Matt.” Mark was speaking to him and without his sunglasses making eye contact. “Barista by day, dancer by night?” He was smiling and it made heat pool in his stomach. He felt kind of nausea and giddy at the same time. He was a grown man, not a love-struck teenager. 

Matt nodded in acknowledgement of his name, the mantra of ‘stay cool’ repeating over and over again in his mind. “I wouldn’t call myself a dancer, but I know how to dance.” There, he felt a bit cooler, a bit more in control.

“Oh, I know. I saw. You really know how to move.”

Matt relaxed a little. “Thanks. It was a good concert. Didn’t think you would be into the old school punk stuff.” 

“Love it, these guys are the reasons the Descendents sound as great as they do on their second album.” 

Matt nodded. “Yeah, exactly.” He was surprised Mark was hot and knowledgeable. “Uh, I was just going to meet one of the bands if you wanted to come with?”

Mark’s smile changed a little, it was almost predatory, but there was humor behind it. “I’ve heard some of things that go on after concerts with fans. I’m good. Don’t need any physical autographs.” He put emphasis on physical autographs and winked. Matt’s eyes widened slightly in response.

Matt furrowed his brow, “listen it’s not,” but then he stopped because honestly it was exactly like that and Mark didn’t look like a stupid guy. He laughed and shrugged, scratching the back of his neck and twisting the black choker that hugged his throat. “Ok, maybe it’s a different kind of meet and greet,” he admitted.

“Greet the meat,” both said and then laughed. 

“Honestly Matt,” Mark’s words were low, and Matt could almost hear a growl, “just between you and me, if I want to get my dick sucked or shove it in something I’ll just ask someone.” He let the words sit there staring at Matt as the other man tried to find something to say. Mark reached out a hand and adjusted the black choker, twisting it back the way it had been so it was centered on Matt’s throat.

Matt felt an electric jolt from the contact as Mark’s fingertips grazed his throat and the heat screamed to his groin for a reaction. The blond man bit back a groan, reminded himself that it was just a touch. His mind started filling in the gaps and thousands of questions engulfed his senses. If his fingertips felt like that, what would his lips feel like? Would they feel electric as well, or would they be warm and soft? Would he brush them against his skin or would he use his tongue and teeth to nip and wash along the adam’s apple? Would he bite along his jugular and worry the skin to mark him? He needed to know what it would feel like. “We all have our hobbies,” Matt gasped out and forced himself to look away from Mark’s mouth and retrain his gaze to his eyes.

“True. Some people bowl and some people give musicians blowjobs. They’re practically the same thing.” Mark said with a snort.

“Not just musicians.” Matt immediately responded and immediately regretted the moment the words were past his lips.

Mark didn’t speak right away; instead he raised an eyebrow and gave a little chuckle. “Oh, really.” He said, crossing his arms and taking those wonderful fingertips farther away from Matt’s aching skin. “I’m intrigued Matthew, please do go on.”

He was smiling again, the bastard. Matt saw the way the corners of his mouth were taut, an almost devilish grin. He wanted to nip the corners of his mouth, pull the lips down between his teeth and gently break the skin. He had known about this man’s existence for less than twenty-four hours and he already knew that he wanted to pull him apart and he had ideas of how he wanted to be pulled apart in return.

The venue was close to emptying out and the two men stood near the stage were starting to get looks from those who wanted to clean up and get out. Matt swallowed a lump in his throat and gestured towards the exit for Mark to lead on. He was expecting some sort of triumphant banter or gloating, but Mark simply nodded and led the way, glancing over his shoulder when they went through the exit and out into the cooling summer air.

“Decided against the autographs?” Mark asked and Matt nodded, toeing around a rock with the tip of his black and white Chucks.

“I’ve been staying out too late lately. Some people want their caffeine before 7am and I would hate to disappoint them.”

“Oh, I’m sure those people would be alright if you showed up to work tired.”

Matt blinked and opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. He rethought his strategy. “My place is a five minute walk.” He stated bluntly, his skin vibrating with nervous energy and he found himself struggling to stay still and not jump Mark where they stood. Why was there all this electricity between them? He didn’t feel this with the nameless people he fucked and sucked. Mark gestured for Matt to lead on and he turned on his heels towards the apartment.

The front door shut and both men were already shucking clothes as they crossed the living room narrowly avoiding the kitchen table near the door. Both were eager to keep skin-on-skin contact at all times and Matt was desperate to keep those little jolts running through his nerves from his fingertips. Matt tossed his shirt onto the floor behind the couch closely followed by Mark’s. The blond was already stepping towards Mark when he turned to pull him closer by the front of his jeans. Mark’s lips crashed into Matt’s and Matt responded in kind by pulling open the front of the other man’s pants. He felt the jolt of electricity from his lips, marveling at the softness as his tongue swept into Mark’s mouth. The heat from the other man’s breath seemed to trickle over his tongue and down his throat as Mark’s fingers tugged at the denim. Struggling with the clasp, Mark dropped his head to Matt’s shoulder, kissing and sucking at the skin, then tugging and licking the black choker than ran around his throat.

Matt sighed and then gasped, running his fingers through Mark’s hair and staggering to lean against the wall as the other man trailed down his chest. Fingers became teeth as they came together to bite at one nipple. When Matt groaned Mark snickered and repeated the action on the other one, biting down a bit harder.

“You fucker…” Matt groaned, tightening his grip in Mark’s hair and keeping him from doing anything other than continuing his biting and sucking. The blond leaned his head back against the wall while Mark pulled his pants down and ran his tongue across the waistband of his briefs.

“We can skip to the fucking part if you want,” Mark said, cupping the bulge and squeezing through the red briefs as Matt panted above him.

The pooled heat was already gathering in Matt’s groin and as Mark squeezed him he felt like he would either melt or break. “Bedroom.” Matt said, although it came out as a request rather than the demand he had intended.

Mark took a step back giving some room for Matt to step out of his jeans and allow him to push Mark backwards into the bedroom. He stopped when the other man’s legs were against the end of the bed. Matt watched as the other man shed his jeans and boxer briefs, tossing them a few feet away and standing naked except for a dark heat in his eyes. Matt shucked his own briefs and felt self conscious. This is exactly what he wanted so why was he being shy now? If this was some random musician he would be on his knees so fast they’d be bleeding.

“Matthew.”

Matt snapped out of his own thoughts and shook his head. His full name had never sounded so good. He grinned and was pleased to note Mark had the same expression. The darker haired man grasped Matt’s wrist and pulled him down on the bed, but allowed Matt to push him back on the blanket and then straddle his legs. When Matt wrapped a hand around Mark’s shaft, Mark cleared his throat and the blond glanced up. 

The other man had a raised eyebrow, but didn’t have a chance to speak before Matt produced a foil square from his palm. He tossed it onto Mark’s stomach and laughter followed. “Too bad you weren’t that quick with my coffee this morning.” 

“Patience, Mr. Hoppus, patience. Now hurry the fuck up.” 

Mark covered himself with the condom, throwing aside the empty foil packet. Matt had only breathed on the tip when Mark sighed and raked his fingers through Matt’s light coloured hair. 

“I want your mouth,” Mark said quietly and Matt looked up, licking his lips and half crawling and half being pulled on top of him. 

Matt felt his skin prickle and warm at the sensations beneath him and his own erection stiffened next to the latex covered one. He propped himself up on his elbows, kissing Mark and sighing as their lips caressed, teeth nipped and tongues washed the others skin. Matt felt drunk on the sensations and he moaned when Mark’s hand reached down to grasp covered and uncovered shafts together and pump them together. 

The heat and the friction made both men moan and Matt pulled Mark’s face back towards him. Their lips met again and Matt swallowed a moan trying to grind his hips harder into Mark’s fist as what seems like electric shocks danced wherever Mark’s skin touched his. 

The sound was barely noticeable at first over the sound of heavy breathing and although Matt thought it was his phone he ignored it. He concentrated on the warm and wet feeling of Mark’s mouth and the tight warm embrace of his fist. Then there was a pause and the ringtone restarted and this time it was the loud wail of Tina Turner. That was Claudia’s ringtone, she hated talking on the phone. 

“Fuck!” Matt said, he laid his forehead on Mark’s chest, Mark let go of their dicks and ran a hand down the blond’s back. Matt’s groin seemed to burn at the lack of contact. “Fuck!” He rolled off the edge of the bed and stood.

“What’s going on?” 

“Something is wrong with the store, that’s Claudia’s ringtone.” He fished through the clothes at the end of the bed, pulling out the cellphone and hitting the answer button. “The store better be on fire,” Matt answered and then stopped when the voice on the other hand responded. His anger was disappearing and worry was creasing his features. “Broken into? Fuck!” 

Mark rolled onto his side to watch, reaching down to pull off the condom and throw it beside the bed. 

“I gotta go, I’m sorry Mark. Can you let yourself out?” Matt was dancing on one leg pulling on his jeans and buttoning them up. He stooped down and picked up his shirt and pulled it on, admiring the naked form of the other man lying on his side before shaking his head. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” 

“Go, Matt. I’ll be alright.” 

Matt nodded, he believed him and it scared him that he did after knowing Mark for so little time.

\----

When Matt arrived at the coffee shop a police cruiser sat outside with the sirens off, but the lights still flashing. Claudia was there, dressed in workout clothes that she had probably set out for the morning and had been the easiest to grab at such an early hour. Matt glanced at his watch and was surprised to see that it was almost two in the morning.

“Matt!” Claudia called and Matt gave a little wave, walking up to where the police officers were standing. One was taking Claudia’s statement and the other turned towards Matt as he approached. He eyed the broken door and two broken front windows of the shop. Those would have to be fixed first thing in the morning with money that he had hoped could go towards fixing the broken stand mixer Claudia was always fighting with. He let out a sigh.

“Are you the owner?” The gruff voice of the male police officer made Matt turn his gaze quickly, looking at the police officer uneasily.

“No sir,” he replied wondering what to do with his hands instead of crossing his arms or shoving them into his pockets. “I’m in the process of acquiring it. I’m Matthew Skiba, the general manager for now, the owner lives in San Diego most of the year.”

The police officer eyed him for a moment then checked his paperwork before nodding. He seemed to approve of what Matt had said. “It seems nothing was taken, the intruder attempted to open the safe, but wasn’t able to get into it. They did, however, stay in the building for quite sometime attempting to do so. What time did you lock up?”

“We,” Matt said, gesturing towards Claudia, “locked up around 7:30pm. There’s always at least two of us present when the doors are locked and I set the alarm.”

“Did you have any strange occurrences today, irate customers or overly friendly customers attempting to garner favour with either of you? Did anyone seem interested in building itself?”

Matt briefly remembered Mark’s little comments in the morning, but shoved them aside. “No sir, it’s been a normal day. If anything with the exception of the morning office rush it was a relatively slow day.”

The officer jotted down some notes and shut his notebook, glancing at the other officer who was doing the same and then offered her card to Claudia and Matt. “This isn’t a bad neighbourhood so I wouldn’t be too worried. If you remember anything else let either of us know. A truck should be by soon to repair the windows and door until tomorrow, I suggest contacting the owner to deal with insurance. If you see anything suspicious, please let us know.”

“Thank you officers,” Claudia chimed out and Matt nodded in agreement.

The police cruiser flipped off its lights as it pulled away and both employees stood in front of the shop staring at each other underneath the lights that were supposed to deter burglars.

There was silence for a few moments, just the sound of the occasional car out on the road before Claudia turned to Matt. “Well? Why didn’t you answer your phone? The alarm company called you four times before they called me.” Claudia asked. “I was in bed, asleep, having an extremely good dream.”

“I had company.”

Claudia gave him a look that spoke volumes and one that she had given him before. She shook her head. Matt sighed and tried to not roll his eyes. “Listen, I had someone over and I didn’t hear the phone, it happens. The important thing is I heard it when you called and I came right here.”

The assistant manager gave a little nod of her head, not making eye contact with Matt as she did so. He saw her little glance out of the corner of her eye, and he assumed she noticed the messy hair and he was pretty sure his shirt was inside out.

“Anyone I know?” She asked with a smile and Matt bumped her shoulder with a look of surprise.

“What? No. Wait, it’s none of your business,” he said but it was with a small smile. “A gentleman does not kiss and tell.”

“Oh, so there was kissing…” She said, edging towards him and then snickered. The two of them leaned against the coffee shop façade as the repair truck rolled down the street and pulled into their small parking lot. “Will there be more kissing with this someone I don’t know?”

The blond huffed out a laugh. “I doubt it, your call was rather unexpected and I doubt he’s going to want to come back after… after coitus interruptus.” He let the words roll off his tongue which elicited a small gasp and then laughter from Claudia. “More of a half of a night’s stand.” Matt could see she was about to speak when the repair truck driver walked over and the moment was lost as they set about securing the building

When they were finished Claudia dropped Matt back to his house, informing him that he had better be in bright and early to open. Matt unlocked the door and walked in, closing it behind him. He hung up his coat and turned to find a note on the kitchen table written on the back of one of the coffee shop receipts. 

_Matt,_

_Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to leave strange men in your apartment? I promise I only went through most of your stuff and licked half of your food. You may want to throw away that fried rice..._

_Looking forward to finishing what we started another night._

_MH_

_P.S. You owe me a cappuccino._

Matt was stunned. He read the note twice more and stared at it a third time. This wasn’t behaviour he was used to in the guys he brought home. It was usually more of a situation where they came and went. In fact they often wanted to come and go as quickly as possible. He walked across the kitchen, still in somewhat of a daze, and reached into the fridge, pulling out the box of mushroom fried rice from inside where it had lived for at least week and tossed it into the garbage. 

This didn’t happen. They didn’t know each other. They had met hours before and while there was a chemistry there, he couldn’t deny that, Matt didn’t think it was enough to inspire a love song or anything. So why did this guy want to see him again? Why had he gone through the trouble of leaving a note? More importantly, why was Matt questioning it? He realized he had been comfortable enough with Mark there to just leave him to lock up after himself, something he had never done before with a stranger. He told himself that part of it was just because the shock of the store being broken into stressed him, maybe even put him into proper shock and he hadn’t been thinking clearly. 

This had been a dangerous situation. He tucked the note into his bag and decided to go to bed, after all he had to be up bright and early to open the shop. He was exhausted, but he noted the smell of another man’s shampoo on his blanket and he pulled it closer to his chin than he would normally. He fell asleep quickly and instead of the heavy blackness that often haunted him instead of dreams, instead he dreamt of dark haired men who had a love for cappuccinos.


	2. A Week Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt wonders when he became a love-struck teenager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a release schedule at some point, but for now subscribing might be best. I have no idea what I'm doing. :D

The doors had been unlocked for about fifteen minutes when Matt, his head down to look for the box of raw sugar packets heard Claudia taking an order at the cash. It was about this time every morning that Matt kept an ear out for a particular order in an attractive male voice. 

“Medium skim half sweet vanilla latte please Claudia, and of course a large almond milk cappuccino for the boss.” A woman said her voice was light, sparkling and crisp.

“Coming right up Karen. How was your week off, oh, and how was the honeymoon?” Claudia asked with glee, putting on the espresso and a pump of vanilla syrup in one cup. 

“It was great, thanks for asking. It was so nice to be somewhere warm that I could walk around in, I adore Los Angeles but driving can be tiresome.” 

Matt checked out of the conversation there, he didn’t really care to hear about honeymoons and time off “someplace warm”. It didn’t usually start to get busy for another half an hour and he needed a couple of minutes to himself to brood. He gave a wave to Karen, but he moved through the doors behind the counter, out back among the dry goods and the two large fridges that held the extra milk and cheesecakes they sold. He leaned his back against one of the fridges, shoving his hands into his pockets and dropped his head down on an exhale. There had been an hot puddle in his stomach at the prospect that had seemed shrink, travel and condense into an icy chill that dripped down his neck. Anticipation becoming disappointment. He was disappointed, that was the feeling that had slashed into his chest when he had heard Karen’s voice placing that order. Disappointed it was a light and crisp voice instead of darker and more viscous. What was wrong with him? It had only been a week since Mark had left that note saying they would finish what they had started. Only a week since Matt had been in shock and asked a virtually complete stranger to lock up his apartment for him. He had known the man for less than twenty-four hours before that. 

There was something about him and wasn’t that was the biggest cliche in the world. He was just another guy, except he wasn’t. He felt like a lovesick teenager and that was a feeling he thought he had left behind when he was actually a teenager. At first he had assumed that work was getting the better of Mark and sending an assistant to get the coffee made more sense. However, he had figured that with Karen’s return if he had really wanted to come and see Matt then nothing would be standing in his way. So where was he? He didn’t have a phone number to text or email address to write to him, so he was set in the role of a lady in a period piece “waiting for him to come calling.” 

The manager let out a long sigh, tipping his head back and letting it ‘thwap’ against the metal side of the fridge. The thud reverberated through his skull. He had to let it go, he had to just move on and if things caught up then all the better. A week ago he was happy with his routine and now he was moaning because a boy wouldn’t call? What the hell was wrong with him? As much as Matt talked himself down images of Mark flashed in his mind. He could feel tender lips against his, electric sensations on his skin as fingertips traveled down his arms and across his belly. He shivered and swallowed the lump in his throat and it reminded him of that night. He could almost feel the tip of Mark’s tongue traveling down his throat across his Adam’s apple and dipping into his clavicle. 

“Matt! Matthew, where the hell are you? Get out here! There’s a customer that wants to speak with the manager.” 

Matt jolted upright, he had started to slide part way down the fridge and Claudia’s voice sent him coughing and flustered as he adjusted himself in his jeans. “I’m coming!” He said and inwardly he groaned at his own horrible situation. This is exactly what he needed right now, an irate idiot of a customer that would complain about the temperature of their coffee after they had drenched it in heavy cream. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to smooth down the back and sides. He walked out and put on his best “I actually care about what you’re saying” smile. 

The day had been filled with the same routine that most independently owned coffee shops go through, broken up with the little memorable things. A pot of freshly made coffee was spilled narrowing missing Matt’s leg, teenagers filled a newly stocked napkin dispenser with cream and sugar and a lady came in and bought coffee for the next twenty strangers. It was a usual day and the routine of it all helped Matt to just forget about Mark and move on with his life. 

Claudia was mopping the floor, it was roughly half an hour before closing and Matt was starting the process of setting everything up for the next morning. He had decided after his little fantasy in the storeroom that he was going to stay home tonight to watch some movies, drink beer and maybe order some pizza. No concerts, nothing sexual and nothing that he might associate with Mark in any possible way. 

“You still haven’t talked to him?” 

Matt glanced up and looked at Claudia who was resting her hands on the top of the mop handle. “Who?” He asked, pretending to go back to straightening the filled sugar dishes. 

“Whoever you’re moping about, your “company” I’m assuming, that you had over when the store was broken into.” Claudia made air quotes around company which made Matt smirk despite himself. 

“I’m not moping.” Matt wanted to say it like he was laughing off the very idea of it and instead it came out rather… emo and childish. The raised eyebrow, which reminded him of Mark, on Claudia’s face told him she didn’t believe him. “I’m not, I’ve been really tired with all the appointments and trying to track down the owner and get him to email me back signed paperwork.”

“If you say so Matthew,” she replied and Matt knew he didn’t have her fooled even for a second.

“I do, so let’s change the topic. All you ever want to do is talk about boys Claudia, very unprofessional.” 

The assistant manager laughed and Matt was glad to hear the sound. The door chimed as someone came inside and as Matt had just turned and was wiping off the side of the bean grinder he left Claudia to greet them. 

“Mr. Hoppus! How are you? I hope you didn’t just leave work at this time of night.” 

“Met clients for dinner a few doors down, thought I would stop by and grab a drink on my way home.” 

Mark’s voice was affecting Matt in the physical sense, to say that was to put it in the simplest terms. It felt like he had a spotlight on his back and Mark’s eyes were boring holes into that spotlight. Maybe he was being a little bit dramatic. He glanced at his watch. They would be closing in a few minutes, usually with most patrons he would have tried to convince them to get something that wouldn’t dirty equipment. He turned, if only because wiping off the bean grinder anymore would probably start to take the polish off it. There he is, his brain said and Matt cursed all the grey matter he had in his skull. 

“Good evening Mark,” he said, trying to sound casual and not pissed off, worried and relieved all mashed up together. “Usual?” 

Mark glanced at his watch, “I think caffeine this late at night would make my insomnia into a super villain." He grabbed a Smart Water and set it on the counter. Matt made a conscious effort not to look at his hands. Not to look at how his fingers left the bottle, how they fiddled with his wallet until the total was brought up, how they slipped into his wallet and then back out to produce a credit card. Payment accepted, said the screen. Matt agreed. 

Claudia locked one of the front doors, then crossed the shop to go out back and finish putting things into the fridge. Matt glanced at his watch. Suddenly pizza, movies and beer sounded exceptionally lonely and boring.

Mark was smiling at him and Matt now accepted that human beings could actually melt. Matt started to talk, but Mark cut him off with an exchange that was essentially: 

“Hey, I wondered if we could--”  
“Would you like to come over --” 

Both stopped and Matt gestured for Mark to continue. 

“I was wondering if you would like to come over, maybe grab some pizza, watch a movie? The dinner I had with clients was a fancy dinner and I’m not sure I actually ate any food. I think all the courses were made of foam...” He narrowed his eyes in thought as he spoke.

Matt chuckled and nodded his head. Sure he seemed nonchalant, but a part of him was terrified, excited, and some other emotions that hadn’t been named yet. “Sure, that was my plan for tonight. Beer, pizza and movies. Would be nice to have company and I’m sure your TV is bigger.”

The darker haired man nodded and Matt recognized that darker smile creeping onto his lips. Mark couldn’t help himself. “Oh yeah, much bigger TV, big enough to be seen by some low orbiting satellites.” 

Matt laughed and was left grinning, the verbal attraction was definitely there. “It’s a wonder it’ll fit in any rooms if it’s that big.” He could play Mark’s game of innuendo. 

Mark’s eyes had a glint in them and Matt wasn’t quite sure how this had turned filthy so quickly. Mark glanced up to see Claudia approaching and replied in a somewhat sweet voice, “I’m sure I can show you how.”

If Claudia heard their discussion she didn’t say anything and instead let Matt know everything was good out back and they could leave and lock up. Mark and Claudia went out the front door and Matt flipped off lights, set the alarm and did the mad dash one had to do when setting an alarm system. He closed and locked the front door and was rewarded with two quiet beeps instead of a warning wail. Their new system was more sensitive and included the windows, but it also had a shorter temper when it came to mistakes. Matt nodded to himself, a job well done as his blood pressure started to come back down from his sprint. 

“Does Claudia know?” Mark said to Matt and he almost jumped out of his skin. He hadn’t seen Mark walk over and was starting to believe he teleported rather than walking. 

Matt shook his head. “No, but if we leave together she’ll figure it out.”

Mark didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to but Matt clearly read that silence as asking permission for Claudia to know. The same smooth, confident and suave guy was also respectful? “It’s cool if she knows.”

“Good,” Mark said and brightened. “Good night Claudia, I’m stealing your boss for pizza, movies and probably other illicit gay things.” 

He waved and Claudia after a stunned pause composed herself, nodded and laughed. “He better be able to walk tomorrow Mr. Hoppus, I am not coming in on my day off.” 

Matt felt the heat coming to his cheeks but he made a point of just closing his eyes and shaking his head. Mark walked up beside him and slung an arm around his shoulder. “I hope I’m not wrong…” He said and Matt felt that warm pool in his stomach all over again. 

The blond shrugged instead, “we’ll see.” He was trying to seem like it was no big deal as they walked toward the car. Matt really hoped he wasn’t wrong. “Busy week?” Matt asked as they got into the car. The initial excitement at seeing Mark was being replaced with his need to know why it took a week to happen.

“You have no idea,” Mark stated flatly as he started the car. “I have had the flu from hell and food poisoning before that. I think your fried rice tried to kill me.” 

“You actually LICKED my food?!” Matt exclaimed and tried to remember if he had his flu shot this year. 

“Half of it, I'm not a monster. I never lie in a hastily written note on the back of a receipt, Matthew.” Mark grinned and pulled away from the curb.


	3. Eager Vegan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pizza, a movie and happy endings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sex in this chapter, tiny bit of plot. Still all fiction though, even if Repo Man is one of Matt's favourite movies.

Matt sat on the plush couch in Mark’s home, leaning over a plate which held two pieces of vegan pizza and took a bite out of the third. _Repo Man_ played on the large screen TV in front of them, one of Matt’s favourites, but all Matt could concentrate on was the presence of the other man next to him. Mark had a piece of pizza to his lips watching the scene unfold on the screen. The trunk of the car opened and BAM the person turned to skeleton and then disintegrated. Matt took the briefest of seconds to just stare unabashedly at him. He hadn’t noticed his jawline before or the shape of his ear…

“How’s the pizza?” Mark asked. He didn’t turn his head but his eyes slid to the side and the beginnings of a smirk traced the corners of his mouth. 

“Great. S’really good.” He took a bite as if to emphasize that fact and Mark’s smirk grew a little. He started speaking with his mouth full, paused to chew and swallow and then continued speaking. “It’s hard to find good vegan pizza. Either the cheese sucks or they use a lot of fake meat. This is good.” 

Mark nodded. “Yeah, tried a few places around town, but this place makes the best and they deliver.” 

Matt nodded and the awkward silence picked up where it had left off, save for the movie playing and the quiet little noises everyone makes when they eat good pizza. “Hey Mark?”

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks, again, for locking up.” 

Mark smiled and nodded. “Thank you for not reacting badly to my note.” He set down his slice of pizza on his plate and set the plate on the coffee table in front of them. “You have adorable underwear by the way.” 

“Did you lick those too?” Matt deadpanned as he too set down his pizza on the coffee table.

“Gross, no.” Mark scrunched up his face at the thought and Matt couldn’t help but think even his stupid faces were sexy. “I may have sniffed them, rubbed them all over my naked body...” 

Mark’s grin was back, blinding and snarky. Matt could tell Mark was very impressed with himself and Matt wouldn’t disagree. He loved the way the other man looked with that big stupid grin of his. He couldn’t resist the urge to cross the distance between them and pressed his lips against Mark’s without saying a word. Warm, soft, tiny bit of pizza sauce… Matt filed it all away and shifted forward to get a bit closer. Mark made an appreciative noise and put a hand on Matt’s shoulder to pull him forward more. He paused the kiss to run his tongue across the corner of Matt’s mouth, smirking as he over dramatically lapped up a tiny bit of pizza sauce that had been left there. 

“Should have eaten the pizza off you, you taste better than the crust,” Mark said and took another swipe across Matt’s lips. The other man hummed in agreement and nipped at Mark’s lower lip, earning him a little noise of surprise. He pressed in a little closer, running a hand over the leg Mark had brought up on the couch when he turned to face Matt. He squeezed his thigh and when he turned his gaze back to Mark he could see something beginning to pool in his blue eyes. 

“Are we going to pick up where we left off?” Matt asked, Mark’s hand coming up to cover his to keep it from going anywhere. Matt nodded in agreement with the silent response and leaned forward to kiss him, his hand sliding higher with Mark’s on top of it. “Eager…” Mark said softly, and used his free hand to turn off the movie playing on the television. 

“Fuck ya,” Matt said his hand massaging the bulge in the front of Mark’s jeans. “Can you blame me?” The kisses slowed from quick pecks to longer, more drawn out caresses of each other’s lips. Breathy exhalations as Matt’s fingertips explored. 

Mark chuckled initially at Matt’s words and then let the sound rasp out into a low moan as Matt’s hands continued their ministrations. He let his head drop back and let out a long breath, inviting the blond’s attention to the long, lean neck. Matt swallowed, he wasn’t sure if it was just because of the situation or the saliva that was now more prevalent in his mouth but he took a moment to drink in the sight before aiming his attention to the skin presented before him. He shifted, unbuttoning the top of his pants to make a little more room and lapped, kissed and bit at Mark’s neck. The noises he made in response were worth it and every sigh, groan and moan went straight to Matt’s cock, making him uncomfortable even in the unbuttoned jeans he was wearing. 

“Matt…” Mark said and then sighed. 

“Mhm?” 

Mark grasped the front of Matt’s shirt, bringing their heads together and stopping the fun Matt was having with Mark’s neck. “Want to fuck you.”

Matt nodded quickly, he felt really foolish after he nodded, but he didn’t know how else to react. His skin felt like it was vibrating, his lips felt swollen and he had way too many clothes on. He grasped the top of Mark’s pants, opening the closure before Mark’s hands clasped over top of his. 

He shook his head slowly, a dark glint in his eye and a small smirk on his lips. “Bedroom.” 

The desire in Mark’s eyes was all Matt needed and he stood up, following the other man up the stairs. He had an excellent view climbing those stairs, he had always laughed at people who called themselves an “ass man” but with that ass encased in denim in front of him he understood a little better. Laughing at first, and then almost growling as they reached the top step Mark kept swatting his hands away from his ass as Matt walked behind him. The master bedroom was at the end of the hall, and Mark grabbed Matt’s shirt and kissed him, causing the other man to stumble. He turned them both around and walked Matt backwards into the room.  
The bedroom was big, but not ludicrous and the bed seemed to match the size of the room. Each side of the bed had a small side table and lamp, with the one closest to the door having a few books and a game controller on it. Matt paused to take in the room, and to take a breath. He saw the game controller before his shirt was being pulled over his head and tossed aside along with Mark’s and teeth and tongue found his left nipple. Matt raked his fingers through Mark’s hair, enjoying the sensation of nails on scalp and the breath on his nipple as Mark exhaled. 

Jeans and briefs were shed and Matt found himself being walked backwards again. Anxiety, strange and mixed up anxiety was rolling in his stomach, but his brain and cock were telling him something else was priority. When the back of his knees hit the edge of the bed he grabbed the other man and pulled Mark down with him. As much as Mark was letting Matt take the lead on the couch, the bed was a different story. Matt’s cock was quickly engulfed in warm, wet suction and he shivered, looking down to see the other man made all the blood rush away from his brain. It was so hot, so amazing and Matt suddenly worried he was going to come right there and then. He thought of anything but where Mark’s warm, amazing mouth was. The cool air that hit it when Mark pulled off it helped to ease the pressure.

The crinkle of a foil wrapper and then a rustle before the snap of a lube bottle cap. They were sounds he knew all too well, but they were comforting sounds and calmed a little bit of the anxiety in his stomach. The next few moments were like a technical manual, the actions happening and were reduced to sensations. He felt cold liquid and then a long finger pressed inside him. He moaned and wriggled slightly into a better position. 

“More, please…” He needed more, now. One finger became two that stretched him and the third made him wince a little, but he adjusted quickly. Three fingers retracted, no, where was it going, Matt felt empty and then just as quickly only one pressed back inside. A little bit of searching and it pressed against that one spot that Matt would marry if he could do such a thing. He moaned. He moaned louder when Mark pressed again. 

Matt panted, he was worked up and Mark seemed calm. He seemed so calm for a guy with a hard on that could break concrete. He watched as Mark stroked his cock a few times with lube and then met Matt’s gaze. This guy was all about making sure he was OK, it was strange but it was also really hot to keep getting that look. That “are you cool with this?” look. Of course he was! 

It made Matt remember that they hadn’t known each other that long and that this wasn’t just some blowjob in an alley. Mark pressed inside him and Matt let out a sound that he wasn’t sure existed before now. It felt hot and full and it hurt a bit. He always loved the edge of pain it could still have even after being stretched properly. They were both still for a moment while Matt adjusted before Matt pushed his hips down. 

Slow, steady strokes and Matt thought was going to go insane. “Faster, fuck, Mark, faster.” He rasped out and the brunette choked out a laugh.

“If I go any faster I’m going to come,” Mark said trying to keep his pace. “You are so fucking hot and tight…” each word was gasped out and Matt found that wonderful spot being pressed with each word that Mark said. Between that spot, Mark’s voice and his own hand wrapped around his shaft slowly pumping up and down he didn’t give himself long. 

“Keep talking, please. I’m not gonna last long…” He was clenching as a reflex, he had never found another guy who didn’t like it.

Mark smirked. His voice was strained, but there was humor in it and Matt marveled at his ability to multi-task when he kept thrusting as he spoke. “Voice kink, Matthew?” A pause and the humor left the voice, “Fuck. You keep clenching like that, I’m… going to come.” 

The blond came undone at the mention of his name, something about the way it was said by that deep voice. Spurts of liquid painted his stomach and then Mark was right behind him and he felt a shudder and warmth sheathed in a condom. Matt closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled as Mark pulled out and discarded the condom. He opened them long enough to notice Mark letting go of the breath he had been holding. He had a little bit of a belly, not much of one and not that Matt cared, but Mark clearly did. He resolved to not say anything, unless Mark made him mad... maybe.

Matt felt the bed dip and then Mark got up. That was amazing. It was short, they had both been apparently so worked up that it couldn’t last very long, but Matt didn’t find that bothered him. He opened his eyes to see Mark knelt next to him using a washcloth to wipe up his stomach and chest. How was he so quiet on his feet? 

Tossing the washcloth on the floor Mark laid down under the covers next to him on his side and wrapped an arm around a pillow to pull it under his head. “You can stay the night if you want,” Mark said with his eyes closed. “Just lock up if you leave, ‘kay?” 

Matt was confused for a second, but let the statement sink in. He didn’t know what to do in this situation, every impulse told him to go except for one voice in his mind telling him it was alright to stay. He sat up on the bed, putting his feet on the floor and looked at the door. No hard feelings if he left, this was just a one-off thing. He had to work in the morning, early and didn’t want to bother Mark. He stood up and let all those considerations and worries pour into his brain. “I have to work early in the morning.” Matt stated glancing back at the figure with his eyes closed. 

“Yeah, I know, who else will make me my coffee in the morning?” Mark stated easily, and opened an eye to look at Matt. 

Nothing would change if he stayed, Mark was saying. He turned and pulled the blanket back to get under the covers with Mark and was quickly pulled into his embrace. “I knew you were a cuddler.” Matt said as he closed his eyes and darkness started to surround him. Mark placed a kiss to the back of his neck. 

“Goodnight Matt.”


	4. Talking about the boss' sex life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The coffeeshop after the big night and Matt's wearing the same shirt as yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To celebrate 100 hits on this fic! Also to celebrate Mark confirming on instagram that his coffee order was an almond milk cappuccino.

His hip hurt. His leg hurt. He had a slight achy twinge in his ass and part of his back hurt. The early morning sex, in the dark, had resulted in Matt falling off the bed... Despite all that Matt felt great. Getting laid aside he had slept really well in a strange bed, even Mark getting up in the middle of the night had barely disturbed him, he had just taken all the covers and immediately gone back to sleep. Mark had sought revenge by flushing the toilet while he was in the shower, but it was playful. Extremely cold, but playful. The question loomed in his mind: why was he so playful? Matt had been having a good enough time that he had almost forgotten about how weird the whole situation was. They didn’t know each other, not well, and it didn’t seem like the whole thing was revolving around sex either. Had they just skipped dating at some point? How had he gone from blowing musicians to this? 

Matt let himself into the shop through the back parking lot after watching the taxi that had brought him there speed away. He shut off the alarm system and grabbed a bag of beans that needed to be brought out front. He noted Claudia’s coat already hung up and light music coming from her prep area out back. Today was her usual day off. A quick glance in the office showed that that she had moved it to Friday to get a long weekend. Surely it had nothing to do with his date. “Hi Claudia!” He said as he crossed to the counter. He was slightly louder than usual to overcome the music. Almost immediately he heard some clattering and then the music cut. 

Claudia came out wiping her hands on her apron which already had streaks of chocolate or coffee on its front. She leaned a hip against the counter and cradled a coffee mug in her hands. “Hello Matthew, how was your date with Mr. Hoppus?” 

“It went very well,” Matt said putting on an air of sophistication. “We partook in some well-prepared italian cuisine and enjoyed a classic film.”

Claudia snickered. “Vegan pizza and Repo Man?” 

“I do believe that is what I said.” Matt said, trying not to laugh and keep a straight face. “We enjoyed each other's company.” He set up the coffee, and tried to ignore the snickers from the assistant manager. “As I did imbibe a few alcoholic drinks I stayed the night at Mark’s house.” He had his back to Claudia, but he heard the tiny intake of breath. 

“You spent the night? Matt, since I’ve known you, you haven’t spent the night with another guy. You won’t even let them spend the night at yours if they go back to your place.” 

Matt nodded and turned to face her. “I know, this was different. More like two friends hanging out, sex wasn’t as important.” 

Claudia stared. “This could be a coincidence, and I’m not trying to be crude, but if you didn’t have sex how did you get that limp?” 

Matt attempted a look of shock then settled on rolling his eyes. “What makes you think I’d be the one with the limp?” 

His friend raised her eyebrows and laughed into her hand. “Matt, my friend, you have told me on many occasions that you wouldn’t be able to ‘give it to someone’, if your life depended on it. You’re not that type.”

He rolled his eyes again. He had told her that, both sober and drunk. He had hoped she had forgotten. “That is so cliche. Gay men aren’t just divided into top and bottoms… well not all of us.” Seeing he was getting nowhere fast, Matt sighed and relented. “Yes we had sex, shut up. It was good, too! And... “ He trailed off and could see Claudia was listening intently. “This isn’t a good place to be discussing your boss’s sex life.” He tried to sound irritated, it came out as more of a whine. 

“Course boss,” she overemphasized boss. “I’ll remind you of that next time you come in gloating of all your exploits after concerts. That’s if your new boyfriend still lets you do such a thing.” Claudia wandered back to her prep area and Matt let his mouth hang open. 

“Boyfriend.” He said to the empty shop and he put his head in his hands. “Why did she have to go and ruin it? It was one date.” 

He could almost hear himself answer that it was a great date. It was a way better date than he had had before if he was honest. Mark made him laugh, Mark turned him on... Even if nothing went any further than this, Mark was a great guy and they could definitely be friends. Maybe they could be friends with benefits, the sex had been amazing. Of course, he could be overthinking it all or overestimating how good it actually was. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips and then shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to get uptight about this, he would drown himself in his work and then worry about Mark and relationships later. 

Later came just after lunch when Claudia came to get Matt where he was doing inventory. “Matt, guy wants to talk to the manager.” 

“Sure, just gimme a minute.” Matt tallied a few numbers, set down the clipboard and went out to the front of the cafe where an amused Mark was standing with his arms crossed. 

“Hey Matt,” Mark greeted and Matt gave a smile in return. 

Claudia giggled and Mark’s eyebrow appeared slightly behind his sunglasses. Matt shook his head. “Just ignore her… Did you want a coffee or?” 

Mark shook his head. “I better not, I want to sleep tonight.” He paused to reconsider what he had just said and noted the smile on Matt’s face. “Speaking of sleeping… I actually stopped by to see if you wanted to come over and finish watching Repo Man tonight after work, since we got sidetracked...” 

Matt pretended to look like he was considering the offer and on the inside he was an anxious, excited soup. Would saying yes make him seem too eager? He scratched the back of his neck. “Sure! That would be fun. Hey, uh, I don’t have your number...” He dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone, making a new contact and handing it over to Mark who grinned and entered his number. Then he giggled. When Matt took back the phone he rolled his eyes at the nickname Mark had given himself and texted the number. 

The response: “MATTY!” pinged on his phone and Matt laughed. He put his phone away in his pocket and glanced at the clock. “Your place around 5?” 

Mark nodded. “Cool, text me if you can’t find it, I’ll see you then.” 

He smiled at Claudia and then he was gone, leaving her grinning at Matt like a schoolgirl with a crush. “He is dreamy. No wonder you’re falling for him.” 

“I’m not falling for him…” Matt glanced over and a puzzled look crossed his face. “There’s nothing wrong with that, though, if I was.” 

Claudia smiled. “Nope, not at all. He’s handsome, funny, has money, a nice body, probably a good lay…” She paused for a second and when Matt neither confirmed nor denied it rolled her eyes. “He’s perfect relationship material for the guy who hasn’t had a relationship that lasted more than two weeks.” 

The manager grimaced. “Three weeks. What are you trying to say Claudia?” 

“I’m saying don’t fuck this up Matt.You worry all the time. You rush into relationships, get scared and then go back to anonymous hook ups after concerts. Take your time, talk to him. Get to know him. You don’t have to have sex with him all the time.” 

Matt fiddled with a coffee stir stick. She was right, as Claudia usually was. Usually relationships were meaningless sex for a few days and maybe some hurt feelings. Mark seemed great and didn’t seem to have any huge flaws. He was attracted to a lot more than he usually was with guys he slept with. Hell, he had even slept with the guy in the same bed. Communication did seem like the right thing if he wanted this to go somewhere in the future even at this early stage. “Yes, I will talk to him. Thank you for caring Claudia.” He hugged the assistant manager and she gave a little smile and a nod. 

“And if you’re planning on staying over there again tonight bring a change of clothes. The mustard stain on your shirt looks like it’ll become sentient soon.” She brightened as though she had said nothing out of line and walked over to help a customer who had come to the counter. Matt just shook his head even if she was completely right.


	5. Worries run amok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark wears questionable clothing. Matt struggles with worries.

Matt stood outside Mark’s door for what seemed like an eternity (but was in actuality about three minutes) before knocking. He checked his watch, three minutes early, and wondered if he should have walked slower so he would arrived on time. Three minutes wasn’t a lot of time, but no one liked that guy who shows up early. He took in a deep breath and tried to calm the fluttering in his stomach. They were going to eat and watch the rest of Repo Man, maybe they would have sex, it wasn’t like this was something new. Yes, he usually ended up at someone else’s place with alcohol instead of blood coursing through his system and maybe an illicit substance along for the ride. Being sober took more courage… or idiocy. 

The door opened and there stood Mark. Matt still had the briefest moment of silence when he saw Mark, he wasn’t rendered speechless it was just that his brain sometimes forgot what words were. The worrying that had creased his forehead started to clear as Matt finally (thanks brain) smiled. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” came the response, “come on in.” Mark stepped to the side to allow Matt to enter and that’s when Matt noticed what he was wearing. It was a warm day out and he was wearing baggy, just past knee length khaki shorts that Matt was pretty sure stopped being made more than 10 years ago. His t-shirt bore the name of a prominent skateboard clothing company. 

Matt snickered and tried to hide it with his hand, then coughed when physically hiding it did nothing to hide the sound.

“Are you laughing at my shorts? You’re wearing a page boy hat.” 

Matt nodded, trying to wipe the smile off his face and failing. “Where did you get those? Do you have a time machine?”

The brunette attempted a straight face. “Shut up. These are still cool. They're comfortable and casual and show off my amazing calves.” He pivoted his foot onto his toes to show off the muscle.

Matt schooled his features into what he hoped was composed and nodded. “They’re nice calves, athletic if I remember correctly, very distracting. I understand why you got the shorts when you were younger, guys must have been all over you.” Tongue in cheek, grin. 

“Somethings don’t change after high school,” Mark said and matched Matt’s foolish smile with an equal grin. Any little worries about this situation were momentarily chased away. Matt pointed to the shirt, “do you skate, or is it because of the way the fabric shows off your arms?” 

“Yeah, a little bit. Do you?”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Matt mimicked and smiled. “We’ll have to go out at some point.” 

Mark nodded sincerely, but that gleam was back in his eye. “‘Bout time you asked me out. I’m a modern man.” The statement was greeted with a little shake of Matt’s head and it made Mark smile even more. He shut the door and gestured for Matt to go into the living room, while he went into the kitchen. “Want a beer? There’s a couple left from the other day or there’s water.” Mark called from the open fridge. “I’d offer coffee but it seems rude to ask you to work for free.” 

Matt rolled his eyes at the coffee statement. He rarely made coffee at home for that reason and he had the proper equipment to make a good cup. “Water’s good.” Matt went to sit down, but had to first move a blue folder from the couch to the coffee table. 

Mark came into the room holding two bottles of Smart Water and handed one to the other man. He scooped up the folder. “Sorry about that, thought I got them all.” He quickly crossed the room to stuff it into a laptop bag near the stairs and came back to sit down on the couch next to Matt. He leaned against him as he queued up the movie, picking a spot a few minutes before they had hastily paused it and then pressed play on the remote. The screen sprang to life. 

The blond was comfortable. He had warm Mark pressing against his side and one of his favourite movies playing, but something was bothering him. This was date number two, three if he was being very generous and he could easily fall asleep against Mark without any worry. That was too quick! It was nice to not have that uncomfortable silence between them like he often had with strangers, he felt like he could joke and say what was on his mind without issue. He couldn’t shrug off this feeling though. The appearance of the folder made him curious, it reminded Matt that he had no idea who Mark really was. He knew his coffee order and knew how to quickly get him off, but he wanted to know more. “Mark?” He asked quietly.

“Hmm?” 

“Where do you work? Claudia said it was advertising or marketing...” 

“I’m a world famous musician.” 

Matt paused and then snorted. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but make up a better lie.” 

Mark straightened and took the pressure off Matt’s side, Matt reached out and paused the movie and they turned to face each other. The older man was the first to speak, “why do you ask?” His brows crinkled slightly as he spoke and Matt wondered if that was because he wasn’t wearing contacts or glasses or because he was getting angry. 

“Was just making conversation.” Matt said, slightly taken aback, he had expected an easy response. “You come and bother me every day where I work, and you’re just down the street so maybe I wanted to do the same.” 

The other man suddenly looked serious. “Well I doubt that’s going to happen, you don’t have the security clearance.” 

“For advertising?” Matt was puzzled and then the possibilities brightened his outlook a little and his eyes went wide. Security clearance? Was Mark a police officer? FBI? He had to admit that he had always enjoyed police uniforms. Even now briefly picturing Mark in boots, opened jacket and cap was making this whole conversation way more fun. It was also making it slightly more distracting and he took a drink from the water bottle he was holding, wiping off some of the condensation from the plastic sides.

“No, Matthew I am not a cop.”

“You would look great in the uniform…” Matt said with a little grin and was met with a nod. 

“I look good in everything,” he boasted and glanced sideways to follow Matt’s gaze to the shorts. He rolled his eyes. “The shorts are great.” With this he put an arm around the other’s shoulders pulling him so they were touching. He reached up and brushed off some lint from Matt’s shoulder, causing that spark of something to flicker through Matt. “I’m sorry I can’t say.” 

Matt nodded, there wasn’t much else he could do other than nod and rest his head on Mark’s shoulder. That was comfortable, he felt comfortable with his head here and their bodies pressed together. Then the worry started again. They sat there like that for a minute or so in silence with the television frozen three-quarters of the way through the plot before something occurred to Matt. “If I guessed what you do for a living, could you nod your head?” 

“You won’t, can we get back to watching the movie?”

“What if I do, though?” He asked, turning his head awkwardly to watch Mark’s expression. Matt’s question was rewarded when Mark gave the smallest, tiniest flicker of a smile in response and then it disappeared. A grin spread across the blond’s face. “I’ll guess, just nod your head if I get it right.” 

Mark sat up straight again, pulling his arm back with an over the top sigh. Matt straightened too, wriggling to face him with a smile on his lips. “FBI?” A pause. “Security guard...prison warden...hacker… special agent… spy!” He blew out a breath and then studied Mark a little closer. Their eyes met and Matt just stared. At this point he didn’t care that the guy he wanted to keep sleeping with wouldn’t answer a perfectly ordinary question, he needed to win this. “Advertising…”

There was a change, a slight change on Mark’s face and Matt took it and ran with it. 

“Ad executive… Analyst… um... Music… Promoter?” 

“How did you guess that?!” Mark exclaimed and jumped to his feet. His time on his feet was short lived, before he sighed and dropped back to the couch letting Matt enjoy himself as he jumped up and pumped his fist in the air. Mark’s voice was resigned. “You guessed and I told you.” 

“One for Matty, zero for Marky,” Matt said in a sing-song voice wiggling his hips back and forth in a little victory dance. “You have a horrible poker face.” 

“I had you though, you thought I worked for the FBI.” Mark said as a smile slowly reappeared on his face and he took a drink of water. “Figured I would be interesting since you seem so worried about something.” 

Matt sat back down enveloping Mark in a hug and a brief kiss on the lips. Mark wanted to make Matt feel better and acted like a dork to do it. “You’re very interesting Mark. I just worry too much, and this whole thing,” he waved his arms to encompass Mark, the house, the movie and everything around them, “is new to me.” 

“You mean not blowing musicians after concerts? Seeing the same guy more than a couple of times?” 

“Dating, relationships…” Matt said, taking another drink of water just to do something with his hands and give him an excuse to look away. “Longest relationship I ever had was three weeks.” Mark didn’t seem surprised which Matt was thankful for so he continued, “I’ve only slept over after sex maybe four times. So, I want to be honest with you that I like you and I don’t know what to do with that.” 

Mark just kissed him in response. Soft enough that it wasn’t a ‘shut up’ kiss, which Matt appreciated but a reassurance nonetheless. The older man’s hands carded through Matt’s hair, his nails gently scraping the scalp and then trailed down the back of his neck to just rest there. His voice was softer than Matt expected to hear and slightly scratchy, “I was in a long-term relationship with another guy, it was good for a long time and then he broke it off and ran away to San Diego.” Mark paused to chuckle, “he does work with the CIA oddly enough, owns a bunch of companies to cover it up. I get it, I’m in no rush to have someone move in with me either. It’s nice freezing someone in the shower though, and shoving someone off the bed during sex because you can’t see what you’re doing. I like you too, maybe you can start giving me my cappuccinos for free.”

“I’m sorry Mark, about the breakup.” Matt said and Mark gave a little smile and a little shrug. “I’m not giving you free coffee though, I don’t own the shop yet.” He rested his head on Mark’s shoulder again and Mark rested his atop it. This was nice and talking things out made sense in this situation, he didn’t feel anxious anymore which was welcome.

Mark soon broke him out of the reverie. “Can we finish watching the movie now, I’ve never actually seen all of Repo Man.” 

Matt jolted upright, grabbing the remote and hitting play. As he settled against Mark he said, “next you’ll tell me you’ve never seen the original 1980s version of Suburbia.” 

The silence that followed meant that they were watching Suburbia next, Matt decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot threads are starting to come together. If you see a plot hole please let me know. Comments & kudos are love.


	6. When you check your phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two important phone calls are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but necessary chapter to push the action along. Tags will be updated next chapter.

“You can’t call me in the middle of the night like this. I’m not your booty call.” 

Matt woke from a deep sleep, groaning as he rolled over away from Mark, but stilled at the sound of his voice. A small amount of light streamed in through the window and lightened up the darkness, but not getting rid of it completely. Matt could see shapes and a few outlines in the room including Mark. He had two choices right now and he chose to stay quiet and listen instead of interrupting. 

“No, we’re not talking about this now,” Mark continued into the phone, his voice was stern if far more gentle than Matt would have been able to manage if he was woken in the early morning. “Go to sleep, it’s three in the morning and you’re drunk.” The bed shifted slightly and Matt could feel Mark sitting up and swinging his legs over the bed. “What? You know that’s not true,” he fought to keep his tone even and to stay quiet. “‘kay then, I’m hanging up.” Mark paused and Matt thought he had hung up. He finally said, “Nope, night, night.”

“Everything okay Mark?” Matt asked, his voice hoarse and scratchy with sleep. He turned to face Mark’s back as he set his phone back on the bedside table. 

Mark nodded. “How much did you hear?” 

“Just the end of it, I know it was none of my business. Sorry...” He gave a little shrug keeping his eyes open even though he couldn’t see everything in the dark. Matt felt rather than saw Mark turn to pull his legs back into bed and settle back on his pillow facing Matt. 

“No, sorry I woke you,” he said with a forced smile. “He, my ex,” he paused and shook his head, “he’s called a couple times, always when he’s drunk. He says he’s more active at night.” If it was possible to hear eyes rolling that was the sound Matt heard. Mark leaned forward to place a quick, gentle kiss on Matt’s nose and then sighed and settled his head back into the pillow.

Silence enveloped them for a moment before Matt quietly said, “goodnight Mark.” 

“Night Matt.”

\------

“Sir, we agreed to a payment at the end of next month and then you were coming down to sign over the papers. I don’t know if I can give you the payment a month earlier.” 

Claudia loitered just out of sight, listening to Matt talk about the store hand over. She was idly wringing out a cloth that had long since lost all its moisture. 

Matt glanced over to catch a glimpse of the towel. He put a hand over the microphone and gestured very quickly at Claudia to come in the room. “Get in here,” he half mouthed and half whispered. “Yes, I’m listening.” He said quickly as he watched Claudia take a seat at his desk across from him.  
The store had been closed for an hour and the email from their boss saying he needed to talk about the purchase of the shop had come at short notice, about ten minutes before the store was set to close. Matt had to cancel plans with Mark to take the call and was trying to curb his irritation about the situation. He pressed a button on the phone to switch it to speaker and held a finger up to his lips for Claudia who nodded in response.

“I know I said next month. However, we need to fast-track the sale. I can’t say why because of legal reasons.” The voice on the other end of the line said and Matt narrowed his eyes in protest. 

“The end of the month is in a week. We’ve had good sales, but not that --”

“Matthew, Matthew… Listen, I’ll be down in LA in a couple of days. We can discuss this face to face. That’s the reason I asked to talk to you, I can’t wait to finally meet you and Claudia. Oh, and hi Claudia!” 

Claudia, silent as a mouse, felt her eyes go wide. How did he do that? She let out a little laugh, “hello Mr. Delonge, and here I thought I was being quiet!”

“You were!” He came back with jovially. “I know I’m on speaker so I assumed it was more than just Matt listening to my wonderful voice. I’ll see you in a couple of days Matthew.” 

“Talk to you soon,” Matt said and the phone disconnected. Matt turned to Claudia and chewed on his lip. “Guess that kills my plans with Mark on Friday,” Matt said standing up and shutting down the computer next to the phone.


	7. no dairy alternatives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some secrets come out into the open.

“Hey Mark, sorry to do this last minute, but I gotta cancel on Friday.” Matt stood leaning against his kitchen counter, phone pressed to his ear and studying the dishes he needed to wash. He didn’t have the inclination to do it before he had called Mark and he knew having to cancel plans that he was looking forward to wouldn’t help that situation. 

“Oh. I was about to call you and tell you the same thing.”

Matt perked up a little, curious. “Yeah? The owner of the shop is coming a month early for the last payment and to sign all the paperwork. He only told me last night. Why do you have to cancel?” 

A trace of a sigh on the other line. “My ex is coming into town to do some business and asked to meet up for a coffee. He kept apologizing for the drunk phone calls so I relented. One coffee and some awkward silences and weird conversations.” 

“You’re a big softie, Mark.” Matt teased.

Mark didn’t miss a beat. “Figured we’d stop by the cafe...” 

“What? You’re coming here?” Matt asked and his voice rose up a little before he tamped down the edge of anxiety he was beginning to feel. “That’s going to be kinda awkward --” 

Mark laughed and Matt felt that edge of anxiety briefly turn to irritation and then somewhat of a warm flush of embarrassment. “Yes it would, that would be stupid. I was just joking, Matt. We’re going to that Starbucks down the road from my house.The one you don’t like.” 

Matt could hear the smile in Mark’s voice and one was creeping onto his face, too. “They can’t make a decent latte and they never have any dairy alternatives.” He countered in his own defense. “Pretty sure one of the baristas spit in my coffee.” 

“You did offer to ‘go back there and make it yourself properly.’” Mark replied. “I’d spit in it, too.”

Matt shrugged even though Mark couldn’t see him. “I was being helpful, even to competition. So we’re cool? Reschedule?”

“Of course, I know where you live and work.”

“Stalker.” Matt replied warmly. 

“You love it.”

“Mhm.” Matt ended the call and blew out a breath. That was the easy part out of the way. He ignored the dishes. 

\----

To say Matt was anxious wasn’t true. He was nervous and uncertain. He was full of nervous energy and wanted to be somewhere, anywhere on a bike and burning the energy that this situation had placed into his blood and tissue. He admired Claudia, who was trying her best to stay busy, doing a bit more prep for the next day and engaging Matt with chit chat to try to help him focus. 

He wanted to own this shop, he had since the day he was hired and striking a deal with the owner to let him slowly pay it off had been a excellent way to accomplish that. He wasn’t there yet. He needed at least another solid month of profits to finish paying for the building as well as keep up the money needed for operating costs. Closing the shop before their lunch rush didn’t help situations either, the sign on the door citing a staff function not helping Matt ignore the looks from regulars who were given less than great notice. He assumed they thought it was a party. 

He could do with a party right now, or at least a drink. He had missed one of Mark’s calls too, that didn’t help. He had put his phone on silent when he had arrived to work this morning (as he always did) and accidentally turned vibrate off. He planned to call him later anyway, see how the coffee date with his ex had gone and maybe offer some sympathy fun to get his mind off it. For now he turned it back on, slipping it into his pants pocket. 

“Matt, stop moping and get the door,” Claudia said, casually. So casually. He really wished he could be casual right now. 

“I’m not moping,” he said with perhaps a trace amount of sulleness in his voice. He scribbled something else down on an order form and glanced up as he was in front of the counter. He paused just for a second as he stared at the man on the other side of the locked front door, waving. 

He had seen him somewhere before. That spark of recognition was beaming in the back of Matt’s mind and he couldn’t quite place it. The guy was tall, wearing a beanie that didn’t really suit him, handsome, clean shaven and had a cocky grin on his face that Matt thought rather suited someone who owned multiple properties and his dream cafe. Had Matt expected older? Someone wearing a suit and tie, maybe carrying a laptop bag or briefcase. Where had he seen him before? He let him in and locked the door behind him. 

“You must be Matt or else I pictured Claudia completely wrong.” Tom said, still grinning. 

He thought he was a comedian too. Matt held out a hand and they shook. “I’m Matt, Claudia is out back finishing prep work for tomorrow.”

As if on cue, Matt suspected she had been listening, Claudia emerged folding up the apron she had taken off and setting it on a stool next to the counter. She happily hugged Tom who had only given her a moment to decline the gesture before enveloping her in an embrace. 

He stepped back and took on an exaggerated thinking posture. “We did meet before, didn’t we? You worked here for a couple of days before I left.” 

Claudia nodded. “Couldn’t have been more than a few hours, but we were introduced. Hope the trip here was OK?” 

Matt was very thankful Claudia was taking the lead on this discussion because he was still trying to remember why this guy seemed so familiar. Few things are as irritating as not being able to place someone. It was helping his nervousness though.

“It was fine,” Tom answered and took a seat at a table. He beckoned them both over to sit. “Nice to get out of San Diego during this heat wave, although it doesn’t seem LA is escaping it either. You must have installed air conditioning, it’s a lot cooler in here.” 

Matt fielded this one. “Yeah, two or three months ago, customers seem to enjoy it.” 

A small smile on Tom’s face even though it was still relatively animated even at rest. “That’s what’s important and that’s why you’re bringing in profits twice as high as I did when I was managing it.” 

“That’s right,” Matt said, “Nine years you worked here?” 

“Close to ten, it’s a nice place.” 

“Tom did you want a drink or anything,” Claudia offered and started to get off her chair. “Water or coffee?” 

“No, no I’m fine, thanks.” He gestured for her to sit and pulled out a couple papers from a portfolio that he had brought in. “I’m meeting my ex for coffee later, it’s Starbucks so not like good coffee that I’d get here, but he suggested it so I’ll play ball.” 

The taller man was giving Matt a look. Months ago it wouldn’t have meant anything to him. Dating Mark, however, he had come to appreciate that look that said he had said something significant and amazing and Matt was intelligent enough to fill in the gaps. Or it was a joke and so hilarious that he would start laughing the moment he figured out the punchline (which Mark would say after Matt figured it out). 

Then he remembered the picture Mark had on his wall of a concert he had helped promote. Him with his ex. Matt had joked that his ex was taller, that he was handsome and all the suggestions that brought with it. He did it to rile Mark up and it had worked. The sex had been great. Now Mark was meeting his ex for coffee at Starbucks. 

It dawned on him and drew him in like a tractor beam. Matt was a blind, naive idiot. Tom was the ex. Tom was Mark’s ex who lived in San Diego and owned properties and… worked for the CIA? 

“Wait, you work for the CIA?” Matt blurted out the question and ignored the confusion on Claudia’s face. 

“Mark told you that? Really?” Tom seemed to grow a little more comfortable at the mention of Mark’s name, like he had been swaggering on eggshells and broken glass. “That’s sweet that he’s still making me look good. Not that I need help,” a wink to Claudia as he puffed out his chest. “Not quite Matthew, I work with the CIA helping to assess and sometimes to prove that the civilian reports of unidentified flying objects are just weather balloons or tricks of the light.”

Matt blinked. “You… prove UFOs don’t exist? That’s a job?” He asked the question slowly, not to help Tom understand it, but because he didn’t understand what he was asking. He hadn’t thought he would ever ask that question. 

“Sometimes.” He was nonchalant, as though he had answered this question hundreds, if not thousands of times before. Maybe more if confidentiality wasn’t so important, surely. “I prove that they do. It didn’t pay well solo when I was starting out, before the CIA partnership, so I invested in a few businesses including this one when I left since it was going under. Now I don’t need them so I’m selling them off. Which we can do right now, once your brain recovers.” He paused. “No wait, maybe we should do it before your brain recovers so I can get a better deal!” 

Claudia chuckled and nudged Matt with her shoulder. “Matt, you ok?”

He shook himself out of his state of shock. “Yeah, fine. Just meeting my boyfriend’s ex and learning aliens exist is a bit much for 10am.” He could be a professional, he just had to push his anger and disappointment at Mark aside as well as his urge to ask as many alien questions as he could think up. He found he felt almost nothing towards Tom, no real hostility or weirdness, not even jealousy even though this was the same guy who had woken him twice by calling Mark at three in the morning, supposedly drunk but Matt couldn’t trust anything anymore, could he? 

“Just one or the other would have been OK but not both?” Tom asked with a chuckle, but it was careful and not as bombastic as his other statements. He wasn’t completely one note. 

Matt answered with a small smile and a nod of his head. “One bombshell at a time.” 

The paperwork went quickly. Tom suggested a plan that worked for Matt and the shop and Claudia surprised them both by offering to purchase into ownership of the store with Matt. Between her contribution (which would allow her to have a say, but not be a full 50/50 partner) money issues were resolved and Matt was quickly shaking hands with Tom and Claudia. The shop was theirs.

“I’ll bring copies of all the paperwork to the shop in a day or so, I’m here for a couple more days visiting some old friends. Oh, we should grab a drink to celebrate tomorrow, my treat since I just took so much of your money.” 

Again, his tone was friendly and reassuring even if it was slightly less mature than Matt expected to hear from a businessman working with the CIA.

“That’d be fun.” Claudia said, effectively accepting for both of them and Matt grit his teeth and nodded. His phone vibrated in his pocket again.

“And Matt feel free to bring Mark and if you have someone Claudia them too. We can have a proper celebration.” 

Goodbyes were said and after Tom left Matt checked his phone: 

6 missed calls, all from Mark’s number. 

He knew Claudia was watching him and his phone rang again as he was about to call Mark back. He answered it as relaxed as he could sound given the circumstances. “Hello?”

“Hey Matt, you must have had your phone off. Hey, about the owner of the shop --” 

Matt cut him off. “You should probably head to Starbucks, your ex just left here a few minutes ago and it doesn’t take long to get there. Don’t want to keep him waiting, that would be rude.” 

“Fuck. Cock…” The swearing was done away from the phone, but it was loud enough that Matt heard it plainly. “Matty, I was going to tell you --” 

The new shop owner hung up the phone, jamming it back into his pocket and collapsing at a table near the counter with his head in his arms. He ignored the vibrating phone until it eventually stopped.


	8. Nice shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Mark meet at a (different) coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't hate Tom. This is an AU Tom.

He shouldn’t be going to meet with Tom. He should have been going to beg forgiveness from Matt. At least that was what the emotional side of him was saying. The logical side was reminding him that Matt wouldn’t see him right now and ignoring Tom always made the problem bigger. At this point in his life he didn’t hate the other man, he just needed to move on with his life and it was almost impossible to do that when he was getting drunk phone calls at 3 am. He didn’t know exactly what would happen between him and Matt, but he knew even after so short of time that it was worth the effort to patch things. 

He opened the door to the Starbucks, giving a brief nod to the person behind the counter and refraining from ordering just yet. He scanned the crowd and saw Tom near the back sipping on something and looking over papers spread out in front of him. 

Mark’s first thoughts were that Tom aged well, it had been years since he had seen him and aside from a bit of weight they both had gained he was tanned and healthy looking. Mark was almost at the table when Tom looked up and a big grin spread across his face. He responded in kind, if slightly less sincere. 

“Marky,” Tom said stacking the papers and putting them inside a folder with the company logo on it. “It has been too long.” 

“Yeah,” Mark agreed toying with a little piece of paper that had come loose from the napkin dispenser. “You been doing alright? Other than the drunk phone calls to me?” 

Tom looked apologetic and smiled a small and rather sad smile. “I’m really sorry about those, I don’t even know why I call, but it’s always your number for some reason. Some ingrained memory or something.” 

“Yeah, maybe. Have you thought about deleting my number since we aren’t together anymore and haven’t been in years?” Marks voice escalated near the end, tainted with sarcasm, but he managed to keep it from rising above the noise din of the coffee shop. 

“Delete it?” Tom’s face twisted slightly in confusion. “Why would I do that? You can’t tell me that when you get tired of him you won’t consider me again?” 

Mark balled up the napkin he had slowly taken from the dispenser in his fist and it took everything he had to not throw it in Tom’s face. He didn’t actually believe what Tom just said. “Excuse me, what? Him? Are you talking about Matt?” 

The other man sighed as though it was a simple concept that he was getting tired of repeating. “Yes, Matthew. The same person who is now pissed off at you for keeping everything to yourself, your fault by the way, and who is so excited to own a coffee shop. That’s lame Mark.” 

“It used to be yours.” Mark said, “that lame coffeeshop used to be your pride and joy.” 

Tom scoffed, “a long time ago.”

Mark’s brain filled in “in a galaxy far, far away”, but he stayed quiet. 

“I have an actual job now Mark, with the CIA that you seem to be impressed by and more than one house and I can go surfing whenever I want,” Tom boasted. 

“You suck at surfing,” Mark said and despite the anger he still felt he chuckled at the memory of Tom learning to surf. 

“Yes, I do” Tom admitted, “but now I can suck at surfing whenever I want.” 

“Good for you,” Mark said, trying to sound sincere and also trying to tamp down the urge to throw something at him. “I told Matt that because I didn't want to say my ex chases aliens.” He sighed. “I have my life here now, with Matt hopefully if he forgives me. It didn’t work out between us Tom. What more can I say? What you did was low, you could have let me tell him.”

There was silence between them as each busied themselves with whatever was in their hand. Tom had his drink and Mark had the rolled up napkin. People around them kept chattering, the couple behind Tom laughing at something one had shown the other on their phone. Mark didn’t feel the weight he felt last time they were sat discussing “them,” he just wanted to finish things and get back to Matt. 

“One last fuck?” Tom asked, breaking the silence and Mark jerked his head up with his eyebrows knit together in confusion. 

“I hope you’re kidding.” Mark said, then tossed the napkin ball, it landed in Tom’s drink and both stared. 

“Nice shot.”

“Mhm. That’s your last shot, gone. I have to go back to my life.” Mark said and he checked his phone to see if he had any missed calls. He stood up. 

“Did he call?” Tom asked and he sounded apologetic rather than he was trying to rub it in Mark’s face. 

“Yep, about five minutes ago. I gotta go Tom, have fun surfing back in San Diego.” Mark walked around the table and Tom stood. They hugged briefly, Tom whispering that he missed him before Mark pulled away and left the coffee shop without looking back.


	9. Drink Offers Everywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorky apologies. Where Mark tries to make things right with Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll say right up front that this is a silly, but heartfelt chapter. One of the few times I've written something for a fic where I really felt what the characters were feeling. Please keep that in mind when you read all the dorkness :) Also an umlaut, if your computer can't parse the character is the two dots above vowels that change how they sound. In this case, makes an 'a' vowel sound into the sound you hear in the word "air". Looks like two, maybe three, chapters left.

Claudia had tried to convince Matt to go out for drinks, citing that not only were they celebratory drinks for the two new owners of the shop, they would also get Matt’s mind off Mark. She was trying to be a good friend and Matt really appreciated it. Still, he had politely and then the second time less politely declined. Instead he said goodbye and started walking. When he finally got onto the main road towards home, he pulled out his cellphone to check the recent calls and cleared off all the missed calls from Mark. 

His mind wouldn’t shut up. It would have been simple for Mark to tell him. That was the fact bouncing around in Matt’s skull and he couldn’t wrap his brain around it. Him withholding the information from Matt was far worse than the actual truth. He had had to find out from Tom for crying out loud! He felt stupid too, how did he not see the connections? What’s more, they hadn’t been together that long, but something felt serious between them. He thought there was something there. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe he had just been a long overdue rebound for Mark and he was better off going back to after parties and “meet and greets” with bands to get his kicks. 

The thought of going back to that was surprisingly unattractive.

He sat on the front step of his house, barely remembering the walk home. Barely remembering if he had left his car at the cafe. He sat half on and half off the welcome mat staring at the kids down the street trying to build a homemade ramp.Two of them had skateboards on the grass and a third straddled a bike off to the side. When a shoving match erupted between the two skateboard kids Matt started to stand. He really had no business interrupting, but he had broken up fights between those three before.This time it was quickly quieted by the third kid and all three went back to their project. 

Matt looked from the kids now peacefully cursing and laughing to the phone in his hand and dialed Mark’s number. It rang three times and then went to voicemail; Mark’s voice instructed the caller to leave a message if they want, but it was easier for both of them to just email. Matt didn’t leave a message. 

Instead he hung up the phone and went inside, contemplating pulling down a bottle of Jack Daniels that he kept in a cupboard above the fridge. He ignored the urge, the thought of drinks reminding him that he had agreed to go to drinks with Claudia and Tom, which only served to darken his mood further. 

‘Bring Mark if you want’, Tom’s voice echoed in his head. Bastard. He settled for a bottle of water, closing the fridge and leaning his forehead against the cool stainless steel surface. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, lost in his own head, mildly uncomfortable in his own space and debated his options. None of the options were that appealing: going to bed, watching a movie or just laying on the floor to attempt something akin to meditation. 

He opted for lying on the couch and ended up drifting asleep to the distant sounds of the kids down the street. Some time later loud knocks on his door woke him up.Trying to clear away the brain fog that comes with a short, interrupted nap he sat up and stumbled the short distance to the door, opening it before he even looked out to see who it was. 

So, he was a bit surprised at what he saw. Mark stood on his doorstep holding two coffee cups (not from the Starbucks he had met Tom at, thankfully) and offered one to Matt. He didn’t ask to come in, didn’t even speak until Matt had taken the cup and looked at the sticker on the side that listed the customizations. One of his habits lately that he didn’t think Mark had picked up on, as he was trying to get ideas for the shop’s new printer. 

The coffee was spot on as written and the name of the cafe sparked some recognition. They were a good competitor and knew their stuff. It was the guest name scribbled on the side of the cup that caught his attention. “What’s this?” He pointed to the black sharpie. 

“That’s my name.” Mark added and Matt could see he was trying to hide a childish grin.

“You told them your name was, 'I’m sorry Mätt' with hearts around it?" 

Mark smirked and gave a little shrug. “I told them it was German, said I was named after a famous wizard from a kid’s book. See, she put an umlaut over the ‘a’.That’s how you know it German.”

When Matt spluttered a bit to correct him, or to say how ridiculous that story was, or that he loved him; he wasn’t sure what was trying to come out of his mouth, Mark added, “hey, not everyone that works in coffee shops is as cultured as you are Matthew. She believed me, tried her best. See the ‘o’ is also a happy face.” 

“And the hearts?” Matt asked. 

“I added the hearts.” Mark replied, taking on the most serious face he could. 

Matt couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped. Even as his brain said that it wasn’t good enough, and that he was still angry he stepped to the side and gestured for Mark to come in, shutting the door behind him.

“I should have told you,” Mark began and Matt nodded in total agreement. “I thought I would get a chance, and then Tom got there before me.” He sighed, then took a drink of his cappuccino. “I’m not going to blame it on him, but I didn’t want to drag you through all this. I hoped I wouldn’t have to tell you. We’re through, Tom and I, whether he likes it or not, we haven’t been a ‘we’ for years now.” 

There was silence then. Matt sat on the arm of the couch, cradling his coffee with both hands. “Why?” He finally asked, just one word breaking the silence between them. 

“Why didn’t I tell you? I already said, I didn’t want to drag you into all of this.”

The other man shook his head and any humor trickled away. “Not what I meant, Mark. Why did you care if I got dragged into this? Am I so weak and pathetic that I can’t handle myself against your ex? Did you think it would split us up if I found out?”

Mark paused. He had sat down in the chair opposite Matt’s couch and set his cup down on the table. He looked like he was about to speak, then stopped and reconsidered. Finally when he did speak there was an undercurrent of emotion Matt couldn’t quite place. “You’re not weak. I didn’t want to drag you through it, mostly because I’m selfish and didn’t want to deal with again. Then I didn’t want you to lose your shot at the business of your dreams, because of my past relationships. Tom can be petty sometimes, and unpredictable. He can be your best friend in the whole world, then suddenly up and leave you for something else.”

“You miss him.” Matt stated, but it wasn’t accusatory, it wasn’t anything except a little bit sad. 

“I did,” Mark admitted, “past tense.” Matt saw him adjust how he was sitting, fidgeting a little. “Then I went out for coffee with him and he said some things I really didn’t like and that proved my theory.”

“Which is?”

“He still cares about himself way more than me.” Mark said and shook his head as though he really didn’t want to believe, but finally did. “That’s not a relationship. I want to be in a relationship with someone I care about that cares about me, like you.” He stared at Matt. 

“I do too.” Matt said, meeting Mark’s gaze, he wondered if Mark had shed any tears, from this angle his eyes looked a little off like he had been rubbing them. “Mark, I care about you too, just, I need to be able to trust that you will tell me what’s going on instead of leaving a trail of clues. As this proves, I’m an awful detective. I want to be part of negotiations instead of being left out in the cold.” 

They both sat drinking their coffees in silence for a few moments before Mark, hesitantly asked, “I’m good with negotiations. Matty, I want you to trust me, so what can I do?”

The younger man thought for a minute, warmed a bit by the nickname. “I want to trust you. Give me two weeks, though. I need to set up the shop, Claudia is now part owner, not my employee so we have to figure out responsibilities. Let’s hold off on labels for now and keep doing what we have been doing.”

That seemed fair to Mark, but he didn’t speak as Matt continued.

“But, no more late-night phone calls from Tom, Mark, please. I wouldn’t care if you were still friends… isn’t not that I’m not jealous,” he tacked on, “I just think it’s never going to stop. I don’t think he knows how to stop.” 

“I can do that.” Mark stated. “You’re right, he won’t. I already asked him to delete my phone number. I’d rather never see him again.” 

The words came out of Matt without thinking. “So, you don’t want to come with me and Claudia for drinks with him to celebrate the sale?” Matt asked, cringing slightly even as he said it. He was an idiot.

There was barely a moment's hesitation. “I’ll come with you,” Mark said, surprising the blond. He agreed with a smile even. Then he added his conditions, “but you and I having a lot of sex after.” 

“Deal,” Matt answered just as quickly. 

Mark nodded satisfied, then picked his cup back up and drank the last of its contents. He peered across the cup at Matt, relieved to see him relaxing and less tense. Now he was just hoping he wasn’t pushing his luck, but he couldn’t resist. “And right now, maybe, makeup sex?” He said it quickly just in case it was the straw that broke the deal. 

As soon as Mark said it Matt was OK with it. He had thought it about it as soon as Mark had showed up with the ridiculous coffee gesture. However, relationships had negotiations and discussion was an important part. He also had an idea. 

That’s when Mark noticed the glint in Matt’s eye. He got that glint when he realized something he could have that he couldn’t before.

“Remember when you mentioned you bottomed for Tom once?” Matt asked and this was his opportunity to push his luck.

“Yes.” Mark said.

“And you said you liked it well enough, it wasn’t awf--”

“Matt,” he interrupted, “I said yes.”

“Really, you’re OK with it?” 

Mark nodded, “as long as if I don’t like it we stop, OK?” 

“Of course.” Matt wasn’t a monster, he was just curious what it would be like with Mark. Matt willed himself not to smile. He didn’t want to seem like he was gloating or taking advantage of the situation, but then he was grinning and he felt a little silly grinning about something like this, but after the dreams he had a few nights ago he did foolishly feel like a kid on Christmas. 

“Good. Come on then Mr. Business Man,” Mark said before he all but tackled the other man. He at least had the forethought to wait until Matt set the coffee cup on the table before kissing him. When Matt took a breath, Mark then started pulling him toward the bedroom. “Now Matty, I don’t know how much lube you have, but you’re going to need more.”


End file.
